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Free responsibility matrix template

One accountable team for every deliverable, agreed in writing

A responsibility matrix says who produces each piece of information, who is accountable for it, who is consulted and who is kept informed - often written as a RACI. ISO 19650 asks for a high-level matrix with the tender and a detailed one after appointment. This free template covers both, with every role agreed.

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Plannerly Scope: Quick Assign giving each deliverable at the operation milestone its responsible team, architect or contractor, chosen from the project's teams

Sound familiar?

Everyone is Consulted and nobody is Accountable

The problem

The matrix sits in the BEP appendix, and nobody remembers agreeing to it

When a deliverable goes missing there's no record of who owned it. Put the roles on the work itself, get each team to agree its part, and the evidence builds as you go.

What is a responsibility matrix?

A responsibility matrix maps the information a project needs against the teams that produce it. ISO 19650-2 asks for two: a high-level responsibility matrix in the tender response, showing which team takes on which information, and a detailed responsibility matrix after appointment, setting out who produces each piece of information, when, and to what level. The detailed matrix is what each team's TIDP is built from.

What's in the responsibility matrix template

  • The deliverables, down the side: the information containers or document sections the project needs.
  • The task teams and roles, across the top.
  • R, A, C or I in each cell - with exactly one A on every row.
  • The stage or milestone each deliverable belongs to, and its level of information need.

RACI: what each letter means

Responsible does the work. Accountable answers for it - one team per deliverable, never two. Consulted is asked before it's done. Informed is told once it's done. Most problems come from rows with no A, or with two. Our RACI matrix examples show filled-in tables for construction and BIM projects, and creating a responsibility matrix covers the BIM-specific roles.

Why the matrix stops working, and the fix

A matrix in a BEP appendix is a picture of what someone hoped for at the tender. Put the roles on the real tasks and document sections instead, get each team to agree its part, and it becomes a record of who owns what. That's the job on the RACI use case, with the Episode 2 replay. The UK BIM Framework's guidance on the delivery phase explains the parties and teams behind it.

How to use it

Fill in the responsibility matrix in four steps

  1. List the deliverables

    Start from the MIDP's deliverables and the document sections, so the rows are the real work, not a separate table that drifts.

    Rows that match the work

  2. Assign R, A, C and I

    Give every deliverable one Accountable team and a Responsible person, and add who's Consulted and Informed. Role charts show the gaps and doubles.

    No gaps, no doubles

  3. Get it agreed and signed

    Each team reviews its part by a deadline, so silence isn't taken as agreement, then signs a contract with only its own responsibilities.

    Each team signed for its part

  4. Keep the evidence

    Compare requested and delivered files team by team, and click any chart to see what's outstanding and who owns it.

    Proof of who delivered what

Free lessons

Learn to make every deliverable accountable, one short lesson at a time

Level 3 lesson - roles

ISO 19650 Roles and Responsibilities Explained

The appointing party, lead appointed party and task teams, and what each one owns.

 Level 1 lesson - documents

Assign Document Responsibilities for Accountability

Putting an owner on each document section, not just each file.

 BIM Boot Camp - contracts

The Secret to BIM Accountability: Structured Collaborative Contracts

Turning the matrix into a contract each team signs for its own part.

 Level 3 lesson - sign-off

Creating the Information Protocol + eSign Contract

How the agreed responsibilities become appointment documents each party signs.

Free webinar replay - Episode 2

Watch the RACI taken out of the appendix and put on the work, live

How to survive as a BIM Manager, Episode 2: roles assigned and gaps found, documents reviewed by a deadline, a contract for each team and the delivery evidence, team by team.

  • Why responsibility matrices stop working
  • Assigning roles and finding gaps
  • One-Click Contracts and e-signatures
  • Tracking commitments and delivery

9 chapters

Skip to the part you need

  1. Surviving the RACI00:00
  2. Why responsibility matrices stop working02:56
  3. From the MIDP to RACI responsibilities09:11
  4. Assigning roles and finding gaps12:58
  5. Reviewing documents and agreeing requirements18:20
  6. One-Click Contracts and electronic signatures25:42
  7. Tracking commitments, delivery and dashboards31:35
  8. Project assistant preview37:27
  9. Recap and the RACI Survival Kit40:51

Free download

The responsibility matrix and roles slides from our ISO 19650 training, free to download

Free download

RACI Survival Kit: a starter project and the ISO 19650 responsibility matrix PDFs

Skip the blank RACI table. Start from the approach Episode 2 built, with two PDFs from our free ISO 19650 training on who is responsible for what.

  • 1 starter project
  • 2 PDFs
  • Free

RACI starter project

Episode 2's approach as a project of your own: RACI roles on the Scope tasks, document sections ready to review and a contract per team, ready for your own task teams.

Open in Plannerly Free account, no card needed.
PDF ISO 19650 Detailed Responsibility Matrix.pdfWho produces each information container, when and to what level - the matrix behind every team's contract PDF ISO 19650 Roles and Responsibilities.pdfThe appointing party, lead appointed party and task teams, and what ISO 19650 makes each responsible for

Setup guides

Set up the responsibility matrix in Plannerly

Short Help Center guides that walk you through each step in Plannerly. Open one beside the app and follow along.

Free certificate

Get certified free: Level 1 in about an hour, then ISO 19650 Expert

Level 1 - free certificate

BIM Management Basics

Docs, Scope and Verify from the start: templates, requirements, responsibilities and model checking, with a free certificate.

4.92 (2,759 ratings) 1h 9m Level 3 - free certificate

ISO 19650 Expert

The whole ISO 19650 process, every document on this page included, with a free certificate. 16,600+ people have taken our free training.

4.92 (1,927 ratings) 2h 30m

Case studies

Teams that agreed who delivers what

  • Hungary

    8x growth

    6 → 50+ engineers · −10% costs

    From Excel chaos to ISO 19650 at scale

    BuildEXT · General design firm

    Grew from 6 employees to 50+ engineers across 4 departments. Now handles projects 30x larger with 10% lower construction and FM costs.

    I cannot imagine using Excel or Word to start writing a BIM contract anymore.
    András Ábele-Nagy, Head of BIM · BuildEXT
    • SME
    • ISO 19650
    • Scale-up
  • Portugal

    $4.5M / €4M

    Saved · 310,000 sqm project

    How one team saved over $4.5 million

    LIMSEN Consultants · BIM management

    Coordinated 50 companies and 45 BIM models on one of Portugal's largest mixed-use developments. BEP planning time dropped from 100+ hours to under 30.

    Using Plannerly was a cornerstone for us. There is no going back.
    Filipe Lima, Managing Partner · LIMSEN
    • 50 companies
    • ISO 19650
    • BEP
  • United States

    53% fewer clashes

    $130M residential project

    53% fewer clashes on a $130M project

    Major Real Estate Developer · 800+ O&M team

    A $130M apartment project achieved 16.5% time savings and 53% fewer clashes, with 98% of constructability issues solved vs 31% on the control project.

    The Plannerly process prompted critical cross-company conversations months before they would have caused problems.
    • Lean BIM
    • $130M
    • Residential

See all case studiesOwners, design teams, contractors, consultants and educators - filter them by your kind of organisation.

Questions

Responsibility matrix and RACI questions, answered

What is a responsibility matrix in ISO 19650?
A table of the information a project needs against the teams that produce it. ISO 19650-2 asks for a high-level responsibility matrix with the tender and a detailed responsibility matrix after appointment, which sets out who produces each piece of information, when and to what level. The Level 3 lesson builds one.
What does RACI stand for?
Responsible (does the work), Accountable (answers for it), Consulted (asked before) and Informed (told after). It's the most common way to fill in a responsibility matrix. RACI matrix examples shows filled-in tables for construction and BIM projects.
Can a deliverable have two Accountable teams?
No. Two accountable teams means nobody is, and that's the gap deliverables fall through. Give each row one A and as many R, C and I as it needs. In Plannerly the role charts flag rows with no A or with two. Agree the RACI.
What's the difference between the high-level and the detailed responsibility matrix?
The high-level matrix goes in with the tender: which team takes on which information. The detailed matrix comes after appointment: each information container, who produces it, when and to what level of information need. Each task team's TIDP is built from the detailed one. The UK BIM Framework guidance explains both.
Is there a free RACI matrix template in Excel?
The free download here is a pair of PDFs from our free ISO 19650 training: the detailed responsibility matrix and the roles and responsibilities. If you want a table to copy, start from our RACI matrix examples. The working matrix lives in Plannerly, on the tasks and document sections themselves, and you can export it to PDF or Word.
How do I get every team to agree to the matrix?
Give each team only its own responsibilities to review, with a deadline, so silence isn't taken as agreement. Then send each team a contract with just its part for e-signature, and keep every signed version. Episode 2 does it live on the RACI use case.
Where does the responsibility matrix go in the BEP?
The high-level matrix belongs in the pre-appointment BEP, and the confirmed version in the post-appointment BEP. Rather than pasting a table that goes stale, keep the matrix on the work and refer to it from the BEP template.

Related templates

Templates that go with the responsibility matrix

MIDP template

Every task team's deliverables in one master information delivery plan: what, who, when and to what level, agreed and kept current.

TemplateFree PDFsEpisode 1

TIDP template

One task team's delivery plan in the same structure as everyone else's, so the TIDPs add up to the MIDP without retyping.

TemplateFree PDFs

BIM execution plan (BEP) template

The pre- and post-appointment BEP with every section ISO 19650 expects, an owner on each, and the BEP slides from our free training.

TemplateFree PDFs

EIR template

Exchange information requirements: what each appointed party must deliver, to what level, by when and how it will be checked.

TemplateFree PDFsEpisode 3

Your next job

Next, agree the RACI with every team and keep the evidence

The template gives every row one accountable team. The RACI use case shows the rest: roles on the real work, reviews with a deadline, a contract each team signs, and evidence of what each one delivered - with the Episode 2 replay.

  1. Open the template (done)
  2. Agree the RACI (next)
  3. Write the BEP
See how to agree the RACI

Give every deliverable one accountable team

Start free, put the roles on the real work and let the role charts show you the gaps.

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